PWC's boss defamation case against tabloid gets verdict in three weeks

Arusha. The Resident Magistrate's Court here will on June 20th give its verdict on a case pitting a woman activist in Ngorongoro district, Arusha region and the Jamhuri newspaper.

Ms Maanda Ngoitiko, the director of Pastoralist Women's Council (PWC) is seeking temporary injuction to stop the weekly tabloid from publishing any information on the lady.

She said through her lawyers that she has suffered and her public image tarnished significantly following a series of negative articles on her by the newspaper published in Dar es Salaam.

However, lawyers for the investigative newspaper led by advocate Daudi Haraka has contested this, saying articles published in Jamhuri were not directly connected with an earlier case filed by Ms Ngoitiko against the tabloid.

Last year, she filed an application against William Alias, Gabriel Ole Killel, Manyerere Jackton and the managing editor of the newspaper, seeking Sh. 2 billion for defamation.

The activist claimed that series of articles published in the tabloid were negative on her such that her standing in the society, her community and the donor community, including those supporting her NGO, had taken a nose-dive.

Her tarnished standing, according to her lawyers Fatuma Amiri and Rose Bidyanguze, among other things, led to her arrest by the Immigration officers in Arusha region, followed by seizure of her passport.

The case was last week heard before the Arusha Resident Magistrate,Nestory Baro.

It was adjourned until June 20th when it will give its verdict whether to give a temporary injuction on the newspaper to stop publishing articles on Ms Ngoitiko until the earlier case is determined.